To many, the West Virginia Democrat’s timing doubled as a shot across the bow.

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It was a sign that the chairman would defend the Commerce Committee’s claim to the online privacy debate, even as Franken, a Minnesota Democrat, and the Senate Judiciary Committee’s new privacy panel also dug further into the issue.

“Sen. Rockefeller [had] an added incentive to move forward on digital privacy issues, because in doing so he’s not only protecting millions of consumers, he’s also protecting the prerogative of every member of his own committee,” one former Hill aide who closely follows privacy policy told POLITICO.

That’s precisely the game of one-upmanship that’s been brewing in the Senate for months, according to tech insiders. It’s an inside-the-Beltway power struggle that potentially spells political trouble for online privacy legislation at a time when many lawmakers say new rules are needed for Web companies like Google and smartphone-makers like Apple.

The latest episode comes Thursday, when representatives from Google and Apple head to the Hill for the second time in two weeks to answer questions about location tracking and their smartphones — this time, before Rockefeller’s committee.

Neither panel is admitting there’s a full-scale turf war over online privacy.

A Commerce Committee aide would tell POLITICO only that the panel “has prioritized protecting consumers’ privacy for years and will continue to hold hearings, have a healthy debate and consider legislation.”

Senate Judiciary Committee staff also declined comment. But Franken told POLITICO in an interview last week that “there always has been a little bit of overlapping jurisdiction” between the committees on privacy.

It’s a struggle between two powerful committees at what many stakeholders see as a key juncture in the debate over whether Congress will lay down new rules for the kind of information companies can track online and how they can do it.

The high-stakes battles are hardly confined to the Senate. In the House, too, concerns linger that the chamber’s only bipartisan privacy bill, sponsored by House Energy and Commerce Committee Reps. Cliff Stearns (R-Fla.) and Jim Matheson (D-Utah), lacks support — particularly from Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-Calif.), who leads the subcommittee with jurisdiction.

Mack has promised to move at her own pace and hold a series of hearings soon.

The Senate drama stems from Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick Leahy’s decision earlier this year to set up the Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law. Leahy, a Vermont Democrat, installed Franken as chairman and specified that the panel would cover a number of commercial privacy issues — from behavior-based online advertising to social network privacy.

But the Judiciary move prompted concern on Commerce.

In March, Rockefeller and the committee’s top Republican, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas, wrote to their Judiciary counterparts, saying they were “puzzled” by the new subcommittee’s mandate.

“Consumers can benefit from vigorous oversight by both of our committees, and we want to be sure that — as Senate rules provide — our committees do not duplicate in this area,” Rockefeller and Hutchison wrote. “The work of the Judiciary Committee establishing protections against criminal activity can complement and enhance Commerce Committee’s commercial consumer privacy and data security.”